photo-eye GalleryNick Brandt - Behind the Photo: Giraffes in Evening Light, Maasai Mara, 2006
In May 2014, Nick Brandt began posting the stories behind his beautiful and evocative portraits of African animals to his Facebook page. Brandt has graciously given us permission to reproduce them on photo-eye Blog. This week, Giraffes in Evening Light, Maasai Mara, 2006.

In May of 2014, Nick Brandt began posting the stories behind his beautiful and evocative portraits of African animals to his Facebook page. Brandt has graciously given us permission to reproduce them on photo-eye Blog.

"The photographer sighed wearily. Yes, all the giraffes really were there in exactly those positions.

People often look at some of my photos, such as this one, and believe they must be created in Photoshop. Actually, every single last giraffe was there in those exact places, in that exact formation, under that exact cloud formation with those exact rays of sunlight.

There were actually 35 giraffes gathered on this plain that evening. This is just 18 of them. I hadn't taken a photo for 3 weeks until this photo, due, as usual, to endless days of clear blue skies, devoid of all atmosphere.

This serendipitous confluence of animals, light and cloudscape is what I was seeking during these years. It takes either a lot of hard work or luck to achieve that confluence.

Technical: As usual, the photo was shot on medium format black and white film. Also, as usual, this photo should be seen at its actual print size of 80 inches (200 cm) in length."—Nick Brandt